Garment drying apparatus



Dec. 18, 1962 R. c. GRAY GARMENT DRYING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 29, 1959 IN VEN TOR.

- United States Patent 3,069,021 GARMENT DRYING APPARATUS Ruth C. Gray, Escondido, Calif. Filed Jan. 29, 1959, Ser. No. 789,939 2 Claims. (Cl. 211178) My invention relates to garment drying apparatus and more particularly to devices adapted for drying the full, frilly type of womans petticoats and full skirts, said apparatus having means for holding such garments in position without damaging lace edges, and also for holding a full skirt together with its blouse in place and position, when drying the garment.

Manifestly, an object of my invention is to provide a collapsible and telescoping dress drying apparatus, which is provided with a suitable collapsible stand and stand support for holding said drying apparatus in an upright position, also, said apparatus having a plurality of sidewardly and outwardly telescoping members which extend to any desired outward position and are supported in their position by means of adjustably actuating brace members, said outwardly extending brace members being adapted for holding and for supporting a spread garment or dress when drying same, and in addition, said apparatus having means for collapsing same into a compact form to be stored when not in use.

Accordingly, an object of my invention is to provide a center column, having a collapsible stand at the bottom section thereof and provided with a set of sidewardly extending legs or braces to hold said column in an upright position, and also, for upwardly extending said center column to a desired height when required, further, the upper endof said center column having a header member which is provided with a plurality of radially extending and outwardly telescoping rod members, each of which is flexibly connected to said header member, and each of which being supported by means of a brace connecting a sliding wedge lock member which is slidably positioned on said center column, so that the outwardly positioned rod members may be held and rigidly'rnaintained, and each of said rod members having a plurality of interconnecting and supporting cord, or the like made out of flexible material, so that the uniformity and position, when supporting a garment thereon, may be maintained.

Another object of my invention is to provide said apparatus with suitable locking means for maintaining said header member means in position upon the end of said column, for holding said telescoping and radially extending rod members in their serviceable position, and when said apparatus is not in use for locking said rod members in their retracted position, for storing purposes.

My invention also has for its objects, to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily retracted therefrom, economical in manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

Other and further objects and advantages of my invention as will hereinafter more fully appear, I attain by the construction herein shown on the drawings and described in the specification, forming a part of the application.

Reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which the similar reference characters denote the same parts.

In the drawings;

FIG. 1 shows a side elevational view of my invention, showing same in an operable position.

FIG. 2 shows a partly fragmentary top view thereof, taken from the top of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows the apparatus in a collapsed form.

FIG. 4 shows a fragmentary sectional view of the header member taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2, and showing a fragmentary sectional part of one of the telescoping spreader members in a downwardly collapsed position.

FIG. 5 shows a fragmentary sectional view of the column and the brace members sliding wedge lock, taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 shows a fragmentary sectional and partly elevational view of the base section of said column member, taken on the line 66 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 shows a fragmentary sectional view of the bottom spreader, taken on the line 77 of 'FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 shows a fragmentary elevational View of th waist band supporting member, showing same in position and taken in the direction of arrows 88 in FIG. 2.

Describing my invention more in detail, in its broader aspect-s, said invention comprises a column 2, which may be tubular in structure or solid form such as wood, having an upwardly extending upper end section 4 provided with a header member 6 held in place by means of a centrally positioned center rod member 8, and which extends throughout the entire length of said column 2, terminating at the column bottom end section 10.

The bottom end section 10 is provided with a suitable collapsible bot-tom stand, comprising supporting members 12, at the center section of which a suitable plug member 14 is positioned and adapted for receiving the lowermost end of said center rod member 8, thereby holding said supporting members 12 including said header member '6 rigidly in place and position.

The header member 6 is provided with a plurality of telescoping and outwardly extending spreader rods 16, for supporting a garment when in drying position, as shown, each spreader rod being connected to said header member 6 by means of a suitable spring 18 thus forming a flexible hinge therefor, and each spring being covered with a suitable resilient material such as rubber tubing 20 which extends partly over the rod end 22, as shown inFIG. 4.

Each spreader rod 16 is provided with a slidably and adjustably positioned waist band supporting member 24, see FIG. 8, which is guided over said spreader rods 16 and held thereon in an upright position by a pin 26, the end of said pin 26 being slidably disposed within a longitudinal groove at the underside section of said spreader rod 16, not shown, also said supporting member having a .tiltable guard member 28 provided therein, which is C- shaped, extending upwardly and is also pivoted upon a pair of lower guard ends, as shown, so that same may be used for supporting and for maintaining the position of the waistband 30 when the garment is in place, see FIGS. 1 and 2, and when not in use, said guard member 28 may be tilted into an inoperative position, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 8.

Each of said spreader rods 16 is provided with a hinge block member 32 to which a brace rod 34 is hingedly connected by means of a pivot pin 34', while the lower end of which is pivotally connected to a sliding wedge lock, comprising a spider member 36 disposed at the column member 2 and which is slidably mounted thereon, as shown in 'FIG. 5.

The lower section 38 of said spider member is provided with a feathered section having a plurality of slots or grooves '40, while the mid-section thereof is provided with suitable threads 42 and adapted for engaging the threaded section of a locking sleeve member 44, so that when said sleeve is tightened, i.e., moved or turned upwardly over said threaded section 42, said feathered and slotted section 38 will be forced against the outer surface of said column 2 and thereby wedging same in place for locking said spider member 36 in position.

The outwardly extending ends of said spreader rods 16 are each provided with suitable apertures, wherethrough a suitable flexible cord 46 is threaded, and thereby forming suitable support between each extended end 48, so

a that a dress or garment may rest thereon when in drying position, as shown in FIG. 2.

Said lowermost end it of said column 2 is provided with said collapsible bottom stand, comprising a set of supporting members 12 extending therefrom also, said column 2 is provided with a center block 50 having a plurality of supporting extensions 52 hingedly connected to and held in place by means of hinge pins 54, each extension at its ends 56 is provided with a hingedly mounted tine 58, so that same may be used for anchoring said supporting member 12 and thereby holding said column 2 in an upright position.

'For holding said supporting extensions 52 in a spreaded position and for locking same in place when in use, a suitable locking sleeve 60 is provided, which is slidably disposed over said column 2, said sleeve 60 having a flared out end section 62 adapted to bear against and n top of said extensions 52, as shown in FIG. 6.

Said sleeve 60 is supported and forced into locked position by means of a lock pin 64, see FIG. 7, which is disposed in an angular lock groove 66, also having an interconnecting downward groove 68, for allowing said sleeve 60 to be released when required and consequently releasing said supporting extensions 52 from their outwardly spread and locked position.

When said sleeve 60 is unlocked and moved upwardly along the column 2 and into its uppermost position, said supporting extensions 52 maybe pivoted into their vertical positions and held in close proximity to said column 2, as shown in FIG. 3, allowing said flared out end section 62 to engage the lip ends 70 which are disposed at each end of said extensions 52, and thereby holding same in upright position and preventing said extensions 52 from spreading outwardly, when not in use.

When said apparatus is not in use, said telescoping rods 16 are retracted and said locking sleeve 44 of said sliding wedge lock is unlocked and moved downwardly, thus causing said rods 16 to be tilted downwardly and allowing same to rest in close proximity to said column 2, lying thereagainst as shown in FIG. 3, whereupon said sliding wedge lock may be locked in place by turning said locking sleeve 44 and wedging said spider member 36 into place and when in its lowermost position, in the same manner as hereinbefore described, which prevents said rods 16 from spreading outwardly, so that the apparatus may be stored.

Also, if it may be found desirable to support said garment drying apparatus in a suspended position, said header member 6 may be provided with a suitable hook member 146, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4.

Further, said flexible cord 46 disposed between said sidewardly extending rods, may be used for hanging thereover and attaching thereto other small garments and clothing, since the apparatus may be set up and be used indoors when is deemed advisable and necessary.

While I have thus described my invention with great particularity, it will be clear that the same may be modified throughout a wide range.

I accordingly do not propose to be limited to the exact details of construction herein shown on the drawings and described in the specification, but reserve the rights in practice to make the necessary changes and modification therein, which may come within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a garment drying apparatus of the class described comprising a tubular column having a header member mounted upon the upper end of said column and having a plurality of telescoping spreader rods pivotally connected thereto and extending radially therefrom, a spider member slidably and adjustably mounted on said column having a plurality of braces connecting said spreader rods for supporting same in their spread position, radially extending supporting members mounted at the bottom end of said tubular column for supporting same in its upright position in combination with, a center block internally positioned within said bottom open end of said tubular column, a plug member supporting said center block, and a center rod extending upwardly through the center of said tubular column connecting said header member and said plug member and thereby holding same in rigid position upon said tubular column.

2. In a garment drying apparatus of the class described, as disclosed in claim 1, wherein a tiltable guard member is provided upon each of said spreader rods and in close proximity to said header member, for supporting the waist band of the garment when disposed over said spreader rods and when said garment is in drying position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 103,442 Fuller May 24, 1870 456,151 Lebel July 21, 1891 1,551,250 Henry Aug. 25, 1925 1,573,649 Simpson Feb. 16, 1926 1,806,074 Macgregor May 19, 1931 2,454,888 Shaw et al Nov. 30, 1948 2,460,732 Brenner et al. Feb. 1, 1949 2,528,003 Katzberg Oct. 31, 1950 2,634,075 Mayzel Apr. 7, 1953 2,665,866 Goldinger Jan. 12, 1954 2,923,449 Sund Feb. 2, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 109,928 Australia Feb. 27, 1940 146,525 Australia May 16, 1952 265,495 Great Britain Feb. 10, 1927 555,499 Germany July 23, 1932 

